Blackberry trifle and pistachio sponge

Blackberry trifle and pistachio sponge

A traditional blackberry trifle recipe is given a dinner party twist by Simon Hulstone, who adds zingy blackberry jelly and salty pistachio sponge. If you can’t find pistachio paste, crumb 100g of peeled pistachios in a food processor.

A traditional blackberry trifle recipe is given a dinner party twist by Simon Hulstone, who adds zingy blackberry jelly and salty pistachio sponge. If you can’t find pistachio paste, crumb 100g of peeled pistachios in a food processor.

1

Bring the white wine and water up to the boil and add the sugar. Once all the sugar has dissolved, take off the heat and add the gelatine

165ml of dry white wine

200ml of water

300g of caster sugar

3 gelatine leaves

2

As soon as the gelatine has dissolved, add the blackberry purée and pass through a fine sieve

165g of blackberry purée

3

Pour into your glass dishes. Cut the blackberries in half lengthways and share them equally between the five glass dishes. Carefully place the jelly in the fridge to set

1 punnet of blackberries

4

Heat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4. Line a 30cm rectangle baking tray (with at least 2cm sides) with greaseproof paper. On a high speed, cream the butter and sugar in electric mixer until white

175g of unsalted butter

175g of caster sugar

5

Split the vanilla pod open and scrape out the seeds. Slow the machine down to its lowest speed and add the pistachio, self-raising flour, baking powder, eggs and vanilla seeds

2 tsp pistachio paste

5g of baking powder

1 vanilla pod

175g of self-raising flour

3 free-range eggs

6

As soon as the ingredients are incorporated, turn the machine off and check the texture. If the mix is really stiff, add a little milk to loosen it up; it wants to hold its own weight

7

Pour the mix into the lined tray and place in the oven for 25 minutes or until it’s cooked. Check this with a cocktail stick; it should come out dry. Leave to cool

8

Once cooled, remove from the tray and cut into cubes, around 2.5cm in size. Store in an airtight container until needed

9

Take the jelly out of the fridge, and using a piping bag, pipe the whipped cream on top of the jelly in little peaks from the outside to the centre of the jelly

150ml of double cream

10

Repeat this on all of the jellys and then, on top of the cream, arrange 4-5 cubes of well-spaced pistachio sponge. Loosely close the lid and serve